Donald Macleod explores Mozart's Vienna years, focusing on the composer's arrival in Vienna as he set about establishing himself in all the right circles, in particular, the regular Sunday afternoon gatherings at the home of the diplomat Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who introduced Mozart to the music of Bach and Handel.The music includes two major chamber works: the powerful - and most un-serenade-like - Serenade in C minor, K388, and the String Quartet in E flat, K428 - one of Mozart's six so-called 'Haydn' quartets, written in tribute to the older composer.Donald Macleod looks at Mozart's arrival in Vienna, as he began establishing himself.

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1777

20141110

Donald Macleod explores the events of 1777, the year Mozart came of age.

This week, Donald Macleod dips into five key years of Mozart's life, and presents five of his chamber works for solo wind and strings. These works span Mozart's entire career, ranging from his four exquisite flute quartets to the late clarinet quintet - arguably one of the greatest chamber works ever composed.

We begin in 1777, the year Mozart came of age. After a dazzling career as a child prodigy, his mature genius was beginning to flower in works such as the Piano Concerto No.9 in E flat ("Jeunehomme") and the dramatic concert aria "Ah, lo previdi". Increasingly frustrated by the limits of his position in Salzburg, the ambitious young composer set off for Mannheim - with mixed results.

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1777

20141110

Donald Macleod explores the events of 1777, the year Mozart came of age.

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The Mozart Family Grand Tour

20120625

Donald charts what has come to be known as the Mozart Family Grand Tour.Between the ages of 5 and 35, Mozart clocked up some 3,720 days on tour; that's more than 10 of his not-quite-36 years. This week, Donald Macleod clambers into the Mozart family carriage to plot a selective course through the composer's Awaydays, from his earliest outings as an infant phenomenon to his final trip three decades later.Today's programme charts the extraordinary course of the three-and-a-half-year journey around Western Europe that has come to be known as the Mozart Family Grand Tour, on which the 7-year-old Mozart embarked with his father Leopold, mother Anna Maria and sister Nannerl in June 1763.

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As a child prodigy, Mozart had tasted success at the court of Mannheim. He returned there with his mother at the age of 21 in search of work, but instead found love. Donald Macleod explores Mozart's unrequited passion for the soprano Aloysia Weber - though it was her sister Constanze who became his wife.An aria for the revered castrato Venanzio Rauzzini and a piano sonata for a pupil in Mannheim also feature.Exsultate, JubilateFelicity Lott (soprano)London Mozart PlayersJane Glover (conductor)Non so d'onde VieneNatalie Dessay (soprano)Orchestre de l'Opera de LyonTheodor Guschlbauer (conductor)Sonata in C, K309Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)Konstanze! Dich wieder zu sehen! - O wie angstlich, o wie feurig (Die Entfuhrung auf dem Serail, Act 1)Belmonte....Ian Bostridge (tenor)Les Arts FlorissantsWilliam Christie (director).

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Donald Macleod explores Mozart's Vienna years, describing the visit of the composer's father, Leopold, to his new apartment in Vienna - which was to be the last time they would see each other. The programme features Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor, K466, which was undergoing its finishing touches as Leopold arrived. There is also a lesser-known work, Davidde Penitente or The Penitent David, whose music Mozart partially recycled from the mighty Mass in C minor, left incomplete in 1783.

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1781

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Donald Macleod explores the year that saw Mozart arrive in Vienna, the city where he would spend the final decade of his tragically short life.

This week, Donald Macleod dips into five key years of Mozart's life, and presents five of his chamber works for solo wind and strings. These works span Mozart's entire career, ranging from his four exquisite flute quartets to the late clarinet quintet - arguably one of the greatest chamber works ever composed.

1781 was the year Mozart finally escaped the petty frustrations of working for his patron, Archbishop Colloredo. He travelled first to Munich and then to Vienna. His opera Idomeneo was Mozart's major success on stage that year, and he also found time to compose several beguiling chamber works, including the second of this week's featured works for wind and strings: his Oboe Quartet in F.

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1781

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Donald Macleod concentrates on the year Mozart arrived in Vienna, 1781.

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The Land Where The Lemon Trees Grow

20120626

Donald Macleod explores the teenage Mozart's three trips to Italy.Yesterday's programme eavesdropped on the Mozart family's mammoth Grand Tour round the cultural capitals of Western Europe. Today, Donald Macleod explores the teenage Mozart's three trips to Italy, which laid the foundation for his future operatic masterpieces.

Donald Macleod explores Mozart's Vienna years, focusing on the importance to the composer of Johann Leutgeb, an old colleague of Mozart's from Salzburg days. Leutgeb was a talented horn player and, somewhat bizarrely, a cheese-shop owner, for whom Mozart wrote several works, including the famous Concerto in E flat, K495.The programme also looks at the end of the Viennese public's love affair with Mozart's music, as the fun-loving Viennese struggled to keep pace with the intensity of works like the String Quintet in G minor, K516.Donald Macleod explores the end of the Viennese public's love affair with Mozart's music.

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1782

20141112

Donald Macleod on the events of 1782, when Mozart married and composed his most bawdy songDonald Macleod explores the events of 1782 - a year when Mozart both married his wife Constanze, and composed his most notorious bawdy song.This week, Donald Macleod dips into five key years of Mozart's life, and presents five of his chamber works for solo wind and strings. These works span Mozart's entire career, ranging from his four exquisite flute quartets to the late clarinet quintet - arguably one of the greatest chamber works ever composed.1782 was a pivotal year for Mozart, as he wed Constanze Weber in a ceremony that attracted ill-feeling and familial strife from all sides. Meanwhile, this year saw him compose two utterly contrasting, yet enchanting, chamber works: the delightful variations on "Ah Vous Dirai-Je Maman" (better known as Mozart's variations on "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"), and the notoriously lewd canon for six voices, K.231. Completing the events of this turbulent year, Donald Macleod introduces a complete performance of Mozart's Horn Quintet in E Flat - written for the virtuoso Joseph Leutgeb.

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Triumph And Tragedy In Paris

20120627

Donald Macleod explores Mozart's fateful trip to Paris, during which time his mother died.When Mozart visited Paris as a child, the Parisians fêted him as a wunderkind. Today's programme finds him back in Paris - but now he's 22, and is met with a snooty Parisian indifference. He eventually scores a success with his 'Paris' Symphony, but at a huge personal cost - the death of his mother.

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Donald Macleod explores Mozart's Vienna years, focusing on his growing worries about money, as he dashed off begging letter after begging letter to his wealthy friends and fellow freemasons.It was in this troubled frame of mind that Mozart composed two of his best-known works -the Piano Sonata, K545, and the Jupiter Symphony, which, although sharing the key of C major, are two very distinct pieces.Donald Macleod explores how, despite serious money trouble, Mozart wrote two great works.

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1787

20141113

Donald Macleod explores the aftermath of the death of Mozart's father, Leopold, in 1787.Donald Macleod explores the aftermath of the death of Mozart's father, Leopold, in 1787.

This week, Donald Macleod dips into five key years of Mozart's life, and presents five of his chamber works for solo wind and strings. These works span Mozart's entire career, ranging from his four exquisite flute quartets to the late clarinet quintet - arguably one of the greatest chamber works ever composed.

1787 saw Mozart visit Prague for the first time, where he was received with both a rapturous welcome and a new operatic commission - Don Giovanni. Yet amongst the year's tremendous success, he suffered the loss of the most influential figure in his life, his father Leopold. Donald Macleod introduces two perennial favourites, "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" and the "Catalogue" Aria from Don Giovanni, as well as Mozart's exquisite Flute Quartet no.4.

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Home Is Where The Heart Is?

20120628

Donald Macleod eavesdrops on Mozart as he returns to his native Salzburg.In today's programme, Donald Macleod eavesdrops on Mozart - now all big and grownup, married and living in Vienna - as he returns to his native Salzburg for an uncomfortable family reunion. Experiencing once again the stultifying atmosphere of provincial Salzburg can only have convinced Mozart that he had done the right thing by getting out of there. Back in Vienna a little over three months later, he and his wife Constanza discovered that their first son, Raimund Leopold, whom they had left behind with a foster carer, had been dead for more than a month.

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Donald Macleod explores Mozart's Vienna years, and concentrates on the opera that affronted some of the composer's fellow masons, but which has enchanted generations of opera-goers ever since - The Magic Flute.He also focuses on the commissioning of the Requiem Mass, which, as many believe, came about when Mozart received a call from a stranger, who made him an offer he could not afford to refuse. The composer almost certainly had the whole work mapped out in his head, but died before he was able to get it all down on paper.Donald Macleod explores Mozart's opera The Magic Flute and the unfinished Requiem.

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20120629

Donald explores Mozart's late-flowering success in Prague.In today's programme, Donald Macleod explores Mozart's late-flowering success in Prague, which went Figaro-crazy in December 1786 - Figaro being The Marriage of Figaro, one of Mozart's operatic masterpieces. When the composer turned up in Prague to attend a performance of his latest smash, he got serious red-carpet treatment. Not only that, he was invited to create another opera, especially for the city; this turned out to be Don Giovanni, arguably his most perfect operatic creation. La clemenza di Tito, Mozart's final opera for Prague and a late flowering of opera seria, has never enjoyed the acclaim of his comic masterpieces, but it has a quiet and compelling nobility.

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1789

20141114

Mozart's life in 1789, a year of financial turmoil. With a late chamber masterpiece.Donald Macleod introduces the events of Mozart's life in 1789, a year of financial turmoil, and his chamber masterpiece, the Clarinet Quintet.This week, Donald Macleod dips into five key years of Mozart's life, and presents five of his chamber works for solo wind and strings. These works span Mozart's entire career, ranging from his four exquisite flute quartets to the late clarinet quintet - arguably one of the greatest chamber works ever composed.Donald Macleod ends his survey of Mozart's works for solo wind and strings with one of his last, the Clarinet Quintet in A. The year it was composed, 1789, saw Mozart spiral increasingly into debt, even as his marriage to Constanze found itself under the strain of jealousy and infidelity.

5/5. Mozart's friends came in all guises, from fellow musicians to eminent businessmen whose emotional and financial support was crucial to his wellbeing. Mozart repaid them with some of his most sublime music. Donald Macleod features a complete performance of the Clarinet Concerto, written for Mozart's great friend Anton Stadler, the final movements of his Trio Divertimento, written for his financial aide Michael Puchberg, and the Lacrimosa from his Requiem, completed posthumously by Mozart's friend and pupil Xaver Sussmayr.Requiem (Lacrimosa)Bavarian Radio ChorusBavarian Radio Symphony OrchestraColin Davis (conductor)Clarinet Concerto in A, K622Michael Collins (basset clarinet)Russian National OrchestraMikhail Pletnev (conductor)Divertimento in E flat, K563 (mvts 5 and 6)Leopold String TrioSe il Padre Perdei (II Idomeneo, Act 2)Ilia....Heidi Grant Murphy (soprano)Metropolitan Opera OrchestraJames Levine (conductor)